May in Summer
Cute, mind blowing, dramatic, corny, hunting, bad, depressing, clichés, bizarre and on and on it goes. One thing is certain with
the films coming out of a Sundance selection; they’re all of this great variety
of quality and amusement.
Sudance 2013:
The Documentary Selection brings themes for all tastes from all over the world.
From killer whales to the Pussy Riots storm to Google, to AIDS, to women's freedom, to Wall Street, to Al Qaeda, to the world behind backup singers and much more.
In the U.S Dramatic Compeition:
Who is missing…where’s Mark Duplass?? Is he not the
executive producer, screenwriter, star, director of any film?
Lynn Shelton is back!
Elizabeth Olsen is back with yet another film, and on
a different turn Brit Marling is not returning a third time straight.
Afternoon
Delight
In this sexy, dark comedy, a lost L.A. housewife puts her idyllic hipster life in jeopardy when she tries to rescue a stripper by taking her in as a live-in nanny. Cast: Kathryn Hahn, Juno Temple, Josh Radnor, Jane Lynch.
Director and screenwriter: Jill Soloway. (Via IndieWire).
Ain’t
Them Bodies Saints
The tale of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas hills to reunite with his wife and the daughter he has never met. Cast: Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Nate Parker, Keith Carradine.
Director and screenwriter: David Lowery.
Concussion
After a blow to the head, Abby decides she can't do it anymore. Her life just can't be only about the house, the kids and the wife. She needs more: she needs to be Eleanor.
Director and screenwriter: Stacie Passon.
Emanuel and the Thruth About Fishes
Emanuel, a troubled girl, becomes preoccupied with her mysterious, new neighbor, who bears a striking resemblance to her dead mother. In offering to babysit her newborn, Emanuel unwittingly enters a fragile, fictional world, of which she becomes the gatekeeper. Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Jessica Biel, Alfred Molina, Frances O'Connor, Jimmi Simpson, Aneurin Barnard.
Director and screenwriter: Francesca Gregorini.
Fruitvale
The true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family and strangers on the last day of 2008. Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer, Melonie Diaz, Ahna O'Reilly, Kevin Durand, Chad Michael Murray.
Director and screenwriter: Ryan Coogler.
In the World...
An underachieving vocal coach is motivated by her father, the king of movie-trailer voice-overs, to pursue her aspirations of becoming a voiceover star. Amidst pride, sexism and family dysfunction, she sets out to change the voice of a generation. Cast: Lake Bell, Demetri Martin, Rob Corddry, Michaela Watkins, Ken Marino, Fred Melamed.
Director and screenwriter: Lake Bell.
The Lifeguard
A former valedictorian quits her reporter job in New York and returns to the place she last felt happy: her childhood home in Connecticut. She gets work as a lifeguard and starts a dangerous relationship with a troubled teenager. Cast: Kristen Bell, Mamie Gummer, Martin Starr, Alex Shaffer, Amy Madigan, David Lambert.
Director and screenwriter: Liz W. Garcia.
May in the Summer
A bride-to-be is forced to reevaluate her life when she reunites with her family in Jordan and finds herself confronted with the aftermath of her parents’ divorce.
Director and screenwriter: Cherien Dabis.
Kill Your Darlings
An untold story of murder that brought together a young Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs at Columbia University in 1944, providing the spark that led to the birth of an entire generation – their Beat revolution.
Director: John Krokidas, Screenwriters: Austin Bunn, John Krokidas.
C.O.G
In the first ever film adaptation of David Sedaris' work, a cocky young man travels to Oregon to work on an apple farm. Out of his element, he finds his lifestyle and notions being picked apart by everyone who crosses his path. Cast: Jonathan Groff, Denis O'Hare, Corey Stoll, Dean Stockwell, Casey Wilson, Troian Bellisario.
Director and screenwriter: Kyle Patrick Alvarez.
The Spectacular Now
Sutter is a high school senior who lives for the moment; Aimee is the introvert he attempts to "save." As their relationship deepens, the lines between right and wrong, friendship and love, and "saving" and corrupting become inextricably blurred.
Director: James Ponsoldt, Screenwriters: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber.
Touchy Feely
A massage therapist is unable to do her job when stricken with a mysterious and sudden aversion to bodily contact. Meanwhile, her uptight brother's foundering dental practice receives new life when clients seek out his “healing touch.”
Director and screenwriter: Lynn Shelton.
Upstream Color
A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives.
Director and screenwriter: Shane Carruth.
I worked with Cherien Dabis. Worked on Amreeka the short that got her funding for the feature. Also wrote an article on her for a quarterly publication. Its always nice to see people succeed in the BIZ.
ReplyDeleteOf course, and I hope she truly succeeds.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to see her work!
She made a great little lesbian short film called Little Black Boot. Maybe you can find it online. I think she will succeed enough in that she is a voice representing Arab Americans or Middle Eastern Arabs in a very human light.
ReplyDeleteI will be paying close attention to her and I have to see her film too ;) One of these days I will, for sure.
ReplyDeleteBummer, I found the short film but I was only able watch eleven minutes of it and then stops. I can't find the entire short elsewhere available...
ReplyDelete